Unexpected
by Lenari
Summary: Sydney and Sark meet on the field and things don’t go quite as expected. Set somewhere during the current season. One-shot.


Disclaimer: No characters you recognize are owned by me. They're J.J. Abrahams'. I don't mean any copyright infringement with this, but I just had to take them out to play.

Rating: R. I'm being a decent girl, honest.

Summary: Sydney and Sark meet on the field and things don't go quite as expected. Set somewhere during the current season.

A/N: This is a short, contradicting, freaky thing. But I swear I had nothing to do with the way it turned out 'cause this is what happens when you have a really clear image in your mind and nothing else and then you try to write it.

Unexpected

by Lenari Ryan

Sydney rolled her eyes at Vaughn for the fifth time in the past two minutes as she stepped out of the van. He stepped out behind her, Weiss and Nadia at his heels. Sydney turned around, glaring at Weiss, who shrugged, handing her an earpiece. She attached it with a swift motion before looking down and smoothing her black dress.

Vaughn smiled at the gesture, tucking a curl behind her ear. "Be careful, okay?"

"For the sixth time, I will. I haven't had trouble on the field for ages. Relax, will you?"

"You won't have much backup in there, Syd," Vaughn replied with a hurt tune. "I'm just worried about you."

"I know," she replied calmly. "I just need space."

Nadia cleared her throat delicately. "You should go, Syd. The faster you get in there, the faster you'll get out and we'll all get to go home."

"You'll get to go out with Eric, you mean," Sydney replied with a smile.

Nadia actually blushed and Eric put his arm around her with a grin. "Yeah, that too." Nadia elbowed him playfully and Sydney smiled at them both before turning around and walking into the gala.

She began blending in with the crowd, trying to find the buyer she'd set up this meeting with. Her eyes scanned every corner of the room, but he was nowhere to be found. A waiter approached her with a dirty martini, and handed it to her with a note. "It's from the gentleman who's at the bar." She looked up to find the bar empty. "At least he was there a minute ago," the waiter amended, shaking his head.

Sydney discreetly opened the note as she sipped the martini. "I think you impressed the buyer," Weiss quipped.

"Apparently so," Sydney replied with raised eyebrows as she scanned the neat note. "He wants to meet me up in his room."

Weiss wolf-whistled, eliciting a giggle from Nadia but no reaction from Sydney. "Syd, you there?"

"Yeah. I'm going to the room. And yes, Vaughn, I'll be careful." Weiss snickered and she placed her hand over her earpiece. "I'm going radio silent. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait!" Vaughn said, but Sydney had already turned the earpiece off and walked over to the rooms in the back. She walked behind a curtain easily, counting doors until she reached the one from the note. She turned the doorknob slowly with her left hand, placing her right over the holster on her thigh to make sure the gun was still there. Slipping into the room quietly, she closed the door behind her and leaned on it, which prevented her from falling when the man in the room turned.

"Hello, Sydney," the accented voice greeted her, and she sighed heavily.

"Sark. Don't you have anything better to do than try to foil my missions?"

He smirked, walking towards her slowly. "Not really, no. But that's not why we're here tonight."

"Then why are we?" she asked, her eyes glued on his every movement.

His blue eyes glinted with mischief in the dim light. "I have a deal to propose."

"Do you? Lovely."

He expression turned serious. "I have the artifact you sought to acquire from this encounter with the buyer."

She didn't bother to hide her surprise. "How?"

"I met your buyer a bit earlier and secured his room. And since I've no use for this artifact because I am now my own boss, I've decided to hand it over to you with one condition."

She took a defensive stance. "And what would that be?"

"That we strike a deal to be civil when we meet on the field."

Sydney scoffed. "We both know that's impossible. So why don't you tell me what you really want?"

He smirked. "That is what I want. We've been together in this room for five minutes and we still haven't tried to kill each other. I think that means it's possible."

She stepped away from the door, meeting him in the middle of the room. "Maybe so," she acquiesced reluctantly, "but you need to understand that we're on opposite sides here. So we can't just make some silly truce and expect to keep it."

"We're not exactly on opposite sides anymore, Sydney. I'm straddling the fence these days."

The way he was looking at her made her nervous, and Sydney took a step back. "Yeah, well, that doesn't change my position."

He took another step towards her and leaned in. "Will this change it?"

Before his lips reached hers, she breathed his name as a word of warning. "Sark."

He licked his lips, giving her his characteristic smirk. "Call me Julian." He clasped her lips with his before she could react, and the sheer intensity of his kiss made her shiver. She almost responded to the kiss before coming to her senses and pushing him off her, making him land in an unceremonious sprawl on the bed.

"Don't touch me," she said in a low voice, walking over to the bed, but somehow it didn't sound as threatening as she'd meant it to be. She raised her hand to wipe the back of her hand against her mouth, but ended up placing her fingertips over her lips instead. His smirk widened into a ghost of a smile, his eyes twinkling again.

She walked over to the bed until she stood right in front of him, and before she could realize her mistake he'd grabbed her hips and pulled her towards him. "Now who's straddling what?"

Sydney prepared to strike him but he kissed her again, and this time the heat of his hands moving over the bare skin of her arms was too much to take and she opened her mouth instinctively. He took the opportunity and deepened her kiss, desire palpable under the surface.

He pulled the barrette out of her hair, letting the silky strands fall around her shoulders and tangling his hands in it as she untied his tie and got to work on the buttons. Something in the back of her head screamed at her that this was wrong, but the way he was kissing her made it feel too right to be stopped. He had started pulling down her zipper when she finally managed to open his shirt and she slipped her hands underneath the fabric, her palms rubbing against his chest.

He began kissing her neck and shoulders while she threw her head back, and he was about to slip off her dress when his cellphone rang. He swore under his breath, removing his lips from her collarbone, and his eyes, darkened with desire, met hers as he answered the phone curtly. "Hello?"

"The CIA idiots have abandoned the van and gone to look for Sydney,"a voice informed him over the line before hanging up.

He threw the phone on the bed, framing her face with his hands. "Do we have our truce, Sydney?"

"Your boss?" she asked, evading his question.

"Rather, a partner," he replied. "Are you going to answer?"

"I would think so," she replied breathlessly, and kissed her again, this time with something akin to tenderness. He spoke in Russian quietly, shocking her. "I can't believe you just said that."

"I'll prove it later," he replied, rising with her between his arms. They let go of each other and he began doing his buttons while Sydney ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it up again. "Leave it down," he commented without looking at her. "It looks sexier that way."

She placed the barrette in place to hold her hair up and began zipping up her dress. "I'll let it down the next time we meet."

Still not looking at her, he asked, "Why not now?"

"Vaughn would get suspicious," replied quietly, struggling with her zipper. Bowtie in hand, he walked over to her and put his arms around her to reach her zipper and pull it up. "Thanks," she replied in a whisper, suddenly aware of how close he was. Letting her hand slide down his arm, she pulled the bowtie from his hand and began affixing it.

"You're CIA buddies are on the way," he commented quietly. "I don't think I should stay here for much longer."

"Not much longer," she countered as she finished the bowtie. "Just until you don't look so disheveled."

"And you don't look so flushed."

Before she could reply, they heard commotion on the hall and Sydney cursed inwardly. They were almost at the door. He figured out the same thing, because he pulled the disk from his pocket, placed it in her hand and kissed her goodbye before slipping out through the window. Holding the disk tightly in her hand, Sydney turned around and opened the door at the same time that Vaughn reached it.

He embraced her immediately. "Syd, you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, absently stepping out of his embrace, handing him the disk and walking over to her sister and Weiss. Neither of the three commented on Sydney's strange attitude or asked about the buyer, but it was obvious that they were wondering what happened. They reached the van quietly and when Sydney sat on the front seat she saw a note with her name in the same neat handwriting from before. Picking it up, she read it quickly while the other three entered the van.

_Sydney,_

_I hope I get the chance to make good on my promise. Or rather, that you give me the chance. I'll be in Switzerland next week, and if you decide to give me that chance, you'll know where to find me._

_Julian _

She folded the note and hid it in her hand, suppressing a smile. She couldn't wait until next week. She was so taking a vacation to Switzerland. Looking at the note safely tucked in her hand, she smiled inwardly and bit her lip, his words still fresh on her mind. _I can show you that I am much more than just a rival agent. If you let me, I'll show you that being mine can be better than you ever imagined. _

His. Sydney hated possessiveness, and he was taking one too many liberties, but the gentle Russian words had touched her. He appealed to the darker side of her, and after the changes that her two missing years had on her, soft and cuddly love with Vaughn wasn't what she needed. She needed something rawer without sacrificing the feeling, and Sark was just intense enough to do that.

Yeah, she'd be sleeping with the enemy, but she could take care of herself, and if Julian had wanted to harm her, he could've done so tonight. It would be dangerous but she needed some excitement in her life. She chuckled quietly. She was already thinking of him as Julian and he was making promises to her. They were turning into saps. To think that all either of them wanted was to end the sexual tension, and now they'd ended up with something strangely akin to a relationship. Yep, her life was just one big irony right after another. But maybe this time it would be worth ignoring the irony and moving on to the unexpected.

A/N: So this is it. It's sappier than I intended it to be, but it wrote itself so I can't complain. Please drop a review and let me know what you think.


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